Nursing homes makes changes

PORT EDWARDS (WAOW) -- A Wood County nursing home finds itself in the red and now they've made some changes.

The Wood County Finance Director says Edgewater Haven Nursing Home in Port Edwards needs another $1 million to cover the expenses from the last two years.

One of the reasons he says funding fell short was because they had fewer residents.

A consulting firm made several recommendations to cut costs, and the finance director says it appears to be working.

The county typically contributes a half million dollars to the nursing home's budget.

For 2011, he says they're planning on doing the same.

"In my view it was appropriate timing in order to try and get ahead of this. We don't want to get into 2012 and all of a sudden say, well we budgeted $500 thousand of levy support and it's going to cost them $2 million," Finance Director Michael Martin.

The finance director says he suggested the county use the general fund to cover the extra costs. That fund is already budgeted for, so it won't cost taxpayers extra.